Springer Science and Business Media LLC

Scheelite from 25 representative orogenic gold deposits from various geological settings was investigated by EPMA (electron probe micro-analyzer) and LA-ICP-MS (laser ablation-inductively coupled plasma-mass spectrometer) to establish discriminant geochemical features to constrain indicator mineral surveys for gold exploration. Scheelite from orogenic gold deposits displays five REE patterns including a bell-shaped pattern with a (i) positive or (ii) negative Eu anomaly; (iii) a flat pattern with a positive Eu anomaly and, less commonly, (iv) a LREE-enriched pattern, and (v) a HREE-enriched pattern. The REE patterns are interpreted to reflect the source of the auriferous hydrothermal fluids and, perhaps, co-precipitating mineral phases. Scheelite from deposits formed in rocks metamorphosed at upper greenschist to lower amphibolite facies have low contents in REE, Y, and Sr, and high contents in Mn, Nb, Ta, and V, compared to scheelite formed in rocks metamorphosed below the middle greenschist facies. Scheelite from deposits hosted in sedimentary rocks has high Sr, Pb, U, and Th, and low Na, REE, and Y, compared to that hosted in felsic to intermediate rocks. Statistical analysis including elemental plots and multivariate statistics with PLS-DA (partial least square-discriminant analysis) reveal that the metamorphic facies of the host rocks as well as the regional host rock composition exert a strong control on scheelite composition. This is a result of fluid-rock exchange during fluid flow to gold deposition site. PLS-DA and elemental ratio plots show that scheelite from orogenic gold deposits have distinct Sr, Mo, Eu, As, and Sr/Mo, but indistinguishable REE signatures, compared to scheelite from other deposit types.

The Black Swan Ultramafic Succession hosts a number of magmatic Fe–Ni–Cu–PGE sulfide ore shoots, ranging from high grade massive ore to low grade disseminated sulfides. Of these, the most economically significant is the Silver Swan massive sulfide orebody, associated with the basal contact of the succession. The deposit varies in thickness between 5 and 20 m, reaches a N–S strike length of 75 m, extends for at least 1.2 km of vertical plunge and is open at depth. Overlying matrix (net-textured) ore is rare. Inclusions of dacite are abundant within the lower 5 m of the massive sulfide. They range from angular fragments through smooth sinuous and plumose morphologies to fine lace-like intergrowths with the sulfide matrix, and comprise variable proportions of cores of porphyritic dacite and carapaces with skeletal plagioclase phenocrysts. Dynamic crystallisation and kinetic melting textures in the carapaces indicate that the inclusions have been heated to various temperatures, some well above their liquidus temperature. The composition of the inclusions ranges from a perfect match with the immediate footwall dacites to mixtures of dacite with up to 30% komatiite. The consistent thickness of the inclusion-bearing basal layer within the massive sulphide is interpreted as the extent of 3-D physical connectivity between the inclusions and a partially molten underlying hybrid layer. Primary contacts between the Silver Swan massive sulfide orebody and overlying ultramafic rocks are marked by thin rinds containing coarse-grained chevron-textured chromites with skeletal textures. Compositions of these chromites match those from Kambalda, Perseverance and other localities, and are inconsistent with a metamorphic origin. They are interpreted as markers of primary magmatic contacts. The combination of this feature with the general paucity of matrix ore implies that the massive ore accumulated and solidified before the accumulation of the overlying thick sequence of olivine cumulates. Taken together with observations on the internal fractionation of platinum group elements within the massive ores, these observations are consistent with a model where the massive ore were emplaced at the floor of a small partially drained lava tube. The floor of the tube had been previously heated by passage of large volumes of lava, such that it had reached its melting range. The felsic inclusions within the ore are the result of buoyant ascent of partially molten substrate into the ore magma. This constitutes strong evidence for the operation of thermo-mechanical erosion during ore emplacement. The disseminated Cygnet and Black Swan orebodies show a number of distinctive features. Cygnet contains a assemblage of clasts and inclusions which are interpreted as the result of rip-up, transport and redeposition of sulfides from a pre-existing massive sulfide orebody, of which Black Duck may be a remnant. The Black Swan orebody, by contrast, does not show xenolithic features, but is characterised by an association of sulfide blebs with segregation vesicles, and by unusually coarse-grained olivine. The Black Swan orebody is interpreted as the result of transport of sulfide droplets within a lava charged with a suspended load of coarse olivine crystals.

Ultramafic rocks in Jamaica are dunites with minor lherzolite, often serpentinised, and are part of a dismembered ophiolite complex. In Tobago, dunites, wehrlites, pyroxenites and hornblendites form the lower part of a plutonic complex of island arc affinity. The mineral assemblages and chemistry reflect these differences. Chromite in Jamaica is high in Al and Mg, whereas in Tobago it is rich in Fe, as in Alaskan-type intrusives. Ni-Cu-PGE assemblages in Jamaica are pentlandite, with later low temperature heazlewoodite, awaruite and native copper, the latter with Pt and Pd. In Tobago an assemblage of pentlandite, pyrrhotite, pyrite and chalcopyrite is much less affected by later alteration. PGE phases also occur. The dunites in Jamaica have sufficient MgO to be a potential source of olivine. The higher Fe in olivine from Tobago indicates that olivine cumulates in plutonics from island arc settings are a less suitable source of the mineral. Ni-laterites in Jamaica are unlikely because of high topographic relief. The prospect for Ni-laterites in Tobago is low as there is little Ni in the olivines. Chrysotile asbestos, talc and magnesite are absent in both islands. This is probably a consequence of the lack of secondary serpentine recrystallisation to form fibrous chrysotile veins, the deep tectonic level and lack of hydrothermal circulation for magnesite to form, and the absence of metamorphic/metasomatic events and/or late stage extension tectonics which might have yielded talc.

Uranium and polymetallic U mineralization hosted within brecciated albitites occurs one kilometer south of the magnetite-rich Au–Co–Bi–Cu NICO deposit in the southern Great Bear magmatic zone (GBMZ), Canada. Concentrations up to 1 wt% U are distributed throughout a 3 by 0.5 km albitization corridor defined as the Southern Breccia zone. Two distinct U mineralization events are observed. Primary uraninite precipitated with or without pyrite–chalcopyrite ± molybdenite within magnetite–ilmenite–biotite–K-feldspar-altered breccias during high-temperature potassic–iron alteration. Subsequently, pitchblende precipitated in earthy hematite–specular hematite–chlorite veins associated with a low-temperature iron–magnesium alteration. The uraninite-bearing mineralization postdates sodic (albite) and more localized high-temperature potassic–iron (biotite–magnetite ± K-feldspar) alteration yet predates potassic (K-feldspar), boron (tourmaline) and potassic–iron–magnesium (hematite ± K-feldspar ± chlorite) alteration. The Southern Breccia zone shares attributes of the Valhalla (Australia) and Lagoa Real (Brazil) albitite-hosted U deposits but contains greater iron oxide contents and lower contents of riebeckite and carbonates. Potassium, Ni, and Th are also enriched whereas Zr and Sr are depleted with respect to the aforementioned albitite-hosted U deposits. Field relationships, geochemical signatures and available U–Pb dates on pre-, syn- and post-mineralization intrusions place the development of the Southern Breccia and the NICO deposit as part of a single iron oxide alkali-altered (IOAA) system. In addition, this case example illustrates that albitite-hosted U deposits can form in albitization zones that predate base and precious metal ore zones in a single IOAA system and become traps for U and multiple metals once the tectonic regime favors fluid mixing and oxidation-reduction reactions.

In the northwestern part of the Kalahari manganese field low-grade carbonate-rich Mamatwan-type ore is altered to high-grade oxide-rich Wessels-type ore in association with normal faults. Mass balance calculations, based on the assumption that manganese was geochemically immobile, suggest that upgrading of the manganese ore can be attributed to leaching of Mg, Ca, CO2 and SiO2 from the sedimentary ore with residual enrichment of Mn. Hydrothermal alteration resulted in development of about 10 to 20% of secondary porosity in the ores and the orebed was compacted to two thirds of its original stratigraphic thickness.

Lagoonal sediments of the upper part of the Wetterstein-limestone (Ladinian/Carnian, Alpine Triassic) of the lead-zinc deposit of Bleiberg-Kreuth were examined. They are influenced by cyclic successions, which show emersion periods. These emersions can also be found in similar rocks of the same age. The cyclothems are attributed to eustatic fluctuations. In the rocks, underlying the unconformity, karstic cavities were formed. The lead-zinc ores are thought to be mainly intra-karstic sediments, detrital and chemical deposits. The metal-concentration in the cavities seems to have originated from a directly preceding enrichment in the evaporitic phase, as well as from the erosion of this and other neighboured sediments.

The Pongkor gold-silver epithermal deposit with reserves of at least 98 tonnes of gold and 1026 tonnes of silver, average grades 16.4 g/t Au and 171.2 g/t Ag is one of the most recent and largest gold and silver discoveries in Indonesia, proven within a short period (1988–1991). 40Ar/39Ar dating on adularia samples give an age of 2.05 ± 0.05 Ma. The deposit is of the low-sulfidation epithermal type and consists of four main mineralized quartz veins located close to the internal rim of a volcano-tectonic depression (caldera). This resulted from an explosive ignimbritic eruption that produced pyroclastic flows and accretionary lapilli with rare intercalations of epiclastic rocks. This volcanic unit unconformably overlies Miocene subaqueous volcanic andesitic rocks with interbedded epiclastic rocks. The mineralized bodies are thick (average 4.2 m), steeply dipping, quartz-carbonate-adularia veins with a very low sulfide content (<0.5 wt.%). Their genesis is related to an extensional episode within a tectonic corridor showing NW-SE and NNE-SSW conjugate strike-slip faults, the major vein being located on the inner rim of the caldera. The vein fill reveals four successive stages of deposition marked by a specific facies: (1) carbonate-quartz breccia with dominant quartz and calcite and minor kutnahorite, rhodochrosite, and rhodonite (CQ facies), (2) a network of banded quartz and former carbonate transformed into manganese oxides through supergene alteration (MOQ facies), (3) banded opaline milky quartz (BOQ facies), and (4) grey, locally banded, sulfide-rich quartz breccia cutting all the other types (GSQ facies). Adularia was deposited at the same time as the quartz. The mineralogy and internal structures of the veins (crustiform banding, vugs, collapse breccia) clearly indicate a dilational context, which is common in low-sulfidation epithermal systems. Gold and silver grades, as well as sulfide mineral abundances, increase steadily through stages 1 to 4, locally reaching 1 kg/t in the GSQ facies. The sulfides are dominated by pyrite, accompanied by common acanthite-aguilarite, polybasite-pearceite and electrum in which the gold content ranges from 48 to 74 wt.%. Sphalerite, galena, chalcopyrite and hessite are fairly rare, although present within the CQ facies. The fluid inclusions of the four facies show homogenization temperatures ranging from 150 to 382 °C, indicating boiling of a hydrothermal fluid with an initial temperature of around 205 °C; no marked difference is seen in the GSQ facies, which has the highest gold content. Salinities are low, generally below 1 wt.% eq. NaCl. Lead isotope compositions of the associated volcanic rocks and the mineralization are very similar, 206Pb/204Pb between 18.706 and 18.814␣and between 18.744 and 18.801 respectively, demonstrating a genetic link between the Pliocene volcanism and the auriferous hydrothermal activity. The isotopic signature suggests that the source of the mineralization and associated volcanic rocks is an underlying ancient continental crust that melted and remobilized during the Pliocene volcanic and hydrothermal events. These conclusions seem applicable to the entire Bayah Dome. The existence of both a tectonic corridor and a caldera favoured channelling of the hydrothermal fluids and the deposition of primary ore in the veins. Late intense weathering of the ore deposit, to depths of 250 m below the surface, has given rise to manganese oxide layers, limonite zones, and silver micronuggets within the veins, as well as to gold enrichment.